In our last blog post, we endeavored to erase the false and arguably harmful demarcation between man and nature. The dichotomy between what is “man-made” and what is “natural” is a romantic delusion that describes only our utopian fixations while separating us from our place in creation.
And this wonderful 2013 article from Smithsonian Magazine helps us to blur the lines even further. It’s a quick read that describes the synchronized jumping mechanism of a baby insect, the 3 mm Issus coleoptratus, or planthopper.
Mechanical gears were thought to have been invented by the Greeks some 300 years before the birth of Christ, may God’s peace be upon him. And we were satisfied with that belief up until around seven years ago when researchers took a close look at the little legs of baby planthoppers. This is what they found:
What man thought he had made was there all along, buried in the anatomy of a most insignificant creature. The gears, precisely aligned and with modifications that reduce wear in the tradition of our finest machined equipment, function to synchronize the movements of both legs. This allows for more efficient and targeted jumping.
This is further proof that we are creation, a part of a much greater whole, all of which is natural. We are not creators, not in the real sense of bringing into existence that which did not previously exist. We can only make use of what is, moving it and rearranging it in ways that may feel novel and without precedent.
Until the day we are revealed as upstarts by a tiny little bug.
Read the full article here.
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